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Twenty years ago, director Roland Emmerich delivered "Independence Day," an action blockbuster that rewrote the rule book — making it acceptable to destroy entire cities and kill billions of unseen people and call it light entertainment.
But where "Independence Day" was stupid but fun, Emmerich's long-percolating sequel, "Independence Day: Resurgence" is just stupid. The fun has been replaced with ponderous foreshadowing, obvious nods to the original, international casting to ensure global box-office sales, and chaotic clumps of random visual effects.
It doesn't matter if the audience knows it's been 20 years since the first movie, because it's pointed out repeatedly in the tag-teamed script (begun by Emmerich and his producing partner, Dean Devlin, handed over to actors-turned-writers Nicolas Wright and James A. Woods, and polished by James Vanderbilt, who wrote Emmerich's "White House Down"). In that 20 years, Earth's nations have united to build up its defenses, using technology taken from the defeated aliens. Oh, and we have a base on the moon, and the rebuilt U.S. Capitol has stadium seating outside.
Soon, a signal arrives that something is coming. The United Nations' top science guy and the first movie's co-hero, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), warns that we don't know if it's friendly or hostile, but President Lanford (Sela Ward) orders it blown out of the sky anyway. Not long after, something bigger and even nastier flies in, and this time we're sure it's the aliens — because their 3,000-mile-wide ship sucks up Hong Kong and drops it on London, and then starts drilling to the Earth's core.
Some had advance signs of the aliens' approach, including former President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and the African warlord Dikembe Umbutu (Deobia Oparei). Also, the first movie's semi-crazed scientist, Dr. Okun (Brent Spiner), wakes from a 20-year coma — a good trick, since we thought he died last time — and starts scribbling strange alien writing.
This being a summer blockbuster aimed at 13-year-olds, though, the action doesn't revolve around the old people. Rather, we follow feuding fighter pilots Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher), the son of Will Smith's character (who has been written out of the sequel), and Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth), who is engaged to President Whitmore's daughter Patricia (Maika Monroe), a former pilot and now aide to President Lanford. There's also a Chinese pilot, Rain Lao, played by the Hong Kong star Angelababy.
How dumb is "Independence Day: Resurgence"? So dumb that when Goldblum's David suggests attacking the new alien ship the same way they defeated the old one, no one suggests the aliens would have anticipated that. So dumb that it randomly assigns David's father, Julius (Judd Hirsch), to look after a bunch of kids and drive a school bus across the Bonneville Salt Flats. So dumb that it asks Usher's Dylan to deliver a line like, "Get ready for a close encounter, bitch!" when attacking the alien queen.
"Independence Day: Resurgence" also is so dumb that Emmerich apparently forgot that what made the first "Independence Day" worth the popcorn — namely, that it didn't take things so seriously. But maybe that's not Emmerich's fault, since in a world where the headlines include words like "Brexit" and "Trump," imminent apocalypse doesn't seem so remote a concept.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
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'Independence Day: Resurgence'
The aliens return, with bigger and nastier ships, to destroy more landmarks in a sequel that's as stupid as the original but nowhere near as fun.
Where • Theaters everywhere.
When • Now open.
Rating • PG-13 for sequences of sci - fi action and destruction, and for some language
Running time • 120 minutes.